The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand) (18 Mar. 1982)

The daughter of a textile tycoon is kidnapped and Frank must find her before it's too late to pay the ransom.

Director:

Georg Stanford Brown

Writers:

Pat Proft (teleplay), Deborah Hwang-Marriott (story),

Stars:

Leslie Nielsen, Alan North, Rex Hamilton

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Leslie Nielsen	...	Det. Frank Drebin
Alan North	...	Capt. Ed Hocken
Rex Hamilton	...	Abraham Lincoln (credit only)
Robert Goulet	...	Executed Man
Ed Williams	...	Mr. Olson
William Duell	...	Johnny
Peter Lupus	...	Norberg
Tommy Lasorda	...	Himself
Nicolas Coster	...	Warner
Lilibet Stern	...	Terri
Byron Webster	...	Thames
Ken Michelman	...	Kingsley
Peter Elbling	...	The Mime
K Callan	...	Charlotte

Storyline

The daughter of a textile tycoon is kidnapped and Frank must find her before it's too late to pay the ransom.

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Plot Keywords:

bell | sombrero | shootout | japanese garden | crashing into a trash can | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 March 1982 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

24 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First use of the song "Satin Doll" during party scene, which would become a Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker staple in all subsequent Naked Gun films.

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Quotes

Det. Frank Drebin: [holds up a cup] Coffee?
Warner: Yes, I know.

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Connections

References NFL Monday Night Football (1970)

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Soundtracks

"Satin Doll"
By Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn & Johnny Mercer

User Reviews

Gotta love that title.

The third episode of 'Police Squad' isn't as falling down funny as the first two; the gags just don't come as fast and furious as usual. That said, it's still wacky and loose enough to serve as a solid alternative to blander contemporary sitcoms. Leslie Nielsen is still perfect at playing it totally straight as not terribly bright police detective Frank Drebin. This time Drebin is on a kidnapping case; rich girl Terri Burton (Lilibet Stern) has been taken by a criminal who's holding her for ransom. It's up to Drebin and boss Ed Hocken (Alan North) to find and save Terri by the deadline. Robert Goulet, who would join Nielsen as the villain in the second "Naked Gun" feature film, plays the standard ill-fated special guest star, kicking things off well. Some of the inspired gags include the identity of a killer running amok at the zoo, and the spin that the episode puts on shootouts when Drebin "covers" Hocken. Johnny the shoeshine guy (William Duell) shows off his smarts to Tommy LaSorda. Lab guy Ted Olson (Ed Williams) figures that whoever is holding Terri has to be near the waterfront. One priceless line occurs when Drebin says that he and Hocken "drove around for two hours for no reason, and came up with nothing." Peter Lupus of 'Mission: Impossible' makes his debut as Norberg, the role eventually played by O.J. Simpson in the feature films. The freeze frame gag at the end is a riot as always. But the highlight of the episode has to be the ingenious staging of the delivery of the ransom demands, when Drebin, Hocken, and Norberg are required to play charades with a mime. A decent, if not spectacular, episode.